EDITOR'S NOTE: The following complaint was withdrawn by the plaintiff on Aug. 31, 2016, and dismissed with prejudice.
LOGAN – A Mingo County woman is suing West Virginia Premier Obstetrics Inc. after she claims she was wrongfully terminated by an obstetrician at the facility.
David Afram was also named as a defendant in the suit.
On Dec. 14, Kelli Kay Contos was terminated from her employment with the defendants, according to a complaint filed Feb. 12 in Logan Circuit Court.
Contos claims during the course of her employment, she performed her duties in a satisfactory manner and met the reasonable expectations of the defendants and was not administered any written or verbal warnings.
In December, Afram held a private Christmas party in South Charleston, and Contos was personally invited, according to the suit.
Contos claims as a result of prior engagements with her husband and children, she was unable to attend the party and, following the party, when she returned to work on Dec. 14, Afram began to question her as to why she failed to show up for his private party.
Following a workplace conversation, and sometime later that evening, a text message conversation ensued between Contos and Afram. Afram berated her for her failure to appear at the party and terminated her employment, as he deemed she provided an inadequate reason for her failure to attend the party, according to the suit.
Contos claims prior to being terminated, she suffered harassment by Afram, which created a hostile work environment. The harassment included explicit comments regarding Contos’ physique, clothing and inappropriate fondling and/or touching of the plaintiff, according to the suit.
Contos claims that her employment was wrongfully terminated, that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and that the defendants violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
Contos is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Nathan D. Brown and Joshua S. Ferrell of Ferrell & Brown.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Douglas Witten.
Logan Circuit Court case number: 16-C-32